Over Drinks
by Verthril
Summary: After everything they've been through, Tony thinks it's long overdue to extend a branch to someone who stood against him in the past even if she has suffered just as much as he has. Tony/Jubilee friendship oneshot


Marvel owns the X-men and Ironman.

"You know I'm only Eighteen right?" Jubilee asked.

"That would be the reason I had this meeting in Quebec, bon appetite." Tony said, raising his glass of the fifty year old scotch up.

Since becoming one of the undead Jubilee had found she tasted things for the first time ever and suddenly there was a whole world of things that begged to be tried, among them a Fifty year old bottle of Glenlivett. The alcohol did nothing for her, but the taste, that was divine and she sipped daintily enjoying every kiss that passed her lips. She'd shown up once to a wine tasting in Paris, in her wake she had left people with nearly a century on her in awe of every accent and hint of flavour in the bottle that they with their human senses would never known.

Clearly her enjoyment was writ across her face, When Harry Met Sally eat your heart out, if Angelo were still around she would have found out just what -that- felt like as an undead but then again Jonothon was still out there an active. Never in her wildest dreams would she have guessed at his lineage, but that was all life under the X. She almost missed her time playing with Generation X and another flavour of the New Warriors, rebels with a cause and finding her own place giving all the rookies every lesson she had learned at such a young age.

"What's this?" Jubilee asked as a card was passed across the table.

"That's an invitation to every tasting event Stark Industries is involved with, along with all our sister companies. I had heard from Logan just how good beer tasted while he had suffered the undead curse, but until now I had never believed it." Tony said, raising his glass in toast.

For a moment she felt all the pain and the crushing weight of that betrayal cast upon her, used in a game of chess as nothing more than a pawn while the knights and bishops had served their kings unto the end. She had been bait for a trap that had worked only the opposite, changed yet again from what she was into something different and forced to adapt. Feeling the warm droplets fall against her hand she realized she was crying. Yet before she could reach to brush and smear the crimson away a hand brushed her eyes with a napkin, gentle and soft.

"I know you've been through a lot, more than anyone your age should be but that just seems to be the cards we're dealt. I know there was a time we were at each other's throats, and between you and me and for whatever bragging rights it carries with the rest of them that you were all right. But I just want you to know if you ever need someone to talk to about -it-, about needing something to get you through the day...that I'll be here for you." Tony said, lighting up the napkin on the candle that stood between them at the bar.

"What, the need, like...?" Jubilee asked, still trying to bring herself to understand if what she heard had meant just what she thought she had heard.

"My name is Tony Stark, and I was an alcoholic..." Tony laughed light, raising his glass of scotch in toast.

She'd heard the rumours and seen the Hollywood Tabloids, as a former Valley Girl of Beverly Hills gossip was her life and a man as fine as Tony was Triple A grade beef with a side of hot. To see him confess something to her and offer her his help, that...took strength. The kind of strength to admit he was wrong even as she and all her friends fought a guerilla war against him for public favour.

"Thanks, that...means a lot to me. I mean really fucking seriously thank you dude." Jubilee gratefully replied, having another sip of the scotch and closing her eyes as she picked out every little flavour and accent that was hidden in the amber fluid as it passed down her gullet.

"Hey, if you ever want to switch teams also let me know. It's a new millennium even if it took a while to get across. I know as far as you...Children of the Atom or those Born under the X view it you just had your own crisis of faith. I know just how hard it was for you to choose the side you did, but if you need a third choice...just give me a call." Tony said, reaching to take her hand into his own.

Looking down to it, Jubilee took it gently into her own and ran her thumb over his knuckles. Off the 'Juice' and ready to get back into action, she was still exploring her options and sadly they still were the same side of that coin. But it was nice to know she still had options, even if she had just been exactly the same as him back then, a regular everyday human relying on technology and their guts to do what they thought was right. Reaching for the bottle and pouring a fresh round, she raised hers in toast and waited for him.

"To maybes..." Tony said, clinking his glass against hers.

"And what might just be..." Jubilee said, having travelled the stars and seen the future only to know throughout it all her place was just wherever she was.

Sipping from her glass she enjoyed the scotch for what it was, a treat between friends, never imagining in all her years she'd would call the likes of Tony Stark as a friend. Yet sitting there at the bar she was glad for it just the same, seeing a side of the man she figured few saw and thinking whoever they were knew just how lucky they were.


End file.
